Inside the Raiders of the Lost Ark Story Meeting

That sounds like the title of one of Matt’s posts. But this appears to be real. How does stuff like this just surface? Somebody scanned and posted a 125-page transcript of the original Raiders spitballing session between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan in 1978. Because they a) just have this kind of stuff lying around, and b) scanning is a soothing activity for them. Anonymous scanner, this Diet Dr. Pepper is for you.

Anyway, what do I know, I spend half my waking hours playing Fieldrunners.

The story is actually pretty much all there at this first meeting, from the rolling boulder at the beginning to the warehouse at the end. They knew what they were doing. Except Lucas’s first shot at the name is “Indiana Smith.” (Spielberg: “I hate this.”) Also, um, apparently Lucas wanted Indy to be a pedophile. Here’s his backstory for Indy and Marion:

He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven.